Quick and dirty user management service for Linux VMs?

Posted by quack quixote on Super User See other posts from Super User or by quack quixote
Published on 2010-04-25T07:24:12Z Indexed on 2010/04/25 7:33 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 266

Filed under:

linux

|

virtual-machine

|

user-accounts

|

management

|

tutorial

Background
I have a home server running Debian, and a workstation that runs various VirtualBox VMs (mostly Linuxen but some Windows).

At the moment, I'm creating my main user account anew for every new Linux VM. I'd like to make use of a centralized user-management scheme instead, so I can just configure the new VMs for the directory technology and let them handle user lookups automatically.

The last time I worked with anything like this, NIS+ was still in fashion. I have a vague notion of what LDAP and Active Directory are, but no knowledge of how to configure them for what I want.

Question
What user-management/network-directory technology should I use for providing user accounts to my network?

The server must run on Debian Lenny.
Client configuration should be simple point-at-server-and-go.
I need an example configuration for one sample user account.
(nice-to-have) I may want to mount the user's home directory from the server.
(nice-to-have) The same configuration works with Windows clients.

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about virtual-machine

"Virtual Machine Manager" and "Virtual Machine Server" setup manual

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Is there a manual available that covers the proper setup of a "Virtual Machine Server" with no GUI with an Ubuntu Workstation with a GUI and "Virtual Machine Manager" installed? Both are 12.04 version. I get the following error message: unable to connect to libvirt Verify that -The libvirt-bin package… >>> More
How do the Virtual machine network works ?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I wish to know If I am using 2 VM instance on the same setup and I wish to use heavy data flow between the VMs is there any possibility that I get the Timeout (let say I having one timer on the sending end which stops on getting the ack.) I vague question is How network works in VM . I hope I am… >>> More
Virtual Machine for running Red Hat on Windows Vista

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
It looks like there are a variety of virtual machine offerings available. What is the best one to use with Vista as the host operating system and Red Hat Linux as the guest? >>> More
Virtual Machines List from PowerShell vs PowerShell ISE and PowerGUI

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am confused to why I have different information based on where I try to retrieve it from. I have 3 Windows 2012 servers (G0, G1, and G2) running Hyper-V. The following situation is captured from one server which I use to run scripts and control the others. What I'm trying to do is to get a list… >>> More
Virtual Box - How to open a .VDI Virtual Machine

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
How to open a .VDI Virtual MachineSometimes someone share with us one Virtual machine with extension .VDI, after that we can wonder how and what with?Well the answer is... It is a VirtualBox - Virtual Machine. If you have not downloaded it you can do this easily just follow this post.http://listeningoracle… >>> More